The stock market is full of opportunities for those who know how to find it. Of late, the Canadian oil and energy stocks offer scope for making lucrative gains. These stocks have been characterised by a pattern of abnormally large sell-off followed by recovery, in the last few years.

In January and February this year (2017), many oil stocks endured an abnormally large sell-off to the range of over 20 percent in a month, bringing down the associated indexes with it. The biggest losers include Crescent Point Energy Corp, which shed about 24 percent of its value, and Baytex … Continue Reading

We are looking for senior Canadian dividend paying oil and gas companies with production in excess of 100,000 boed. Bigger is not always better because it implies low or no growth in production. However, the senior group has a few advantages compared to intermediate energy companies:

Oil Sands Exposure

The list below includes several stocks which offer a meaningful exposure to Canada’s oil sands. If you’re looking for oil sands companies to invest in, be sure to investigate Suncor Energy, Cenovus, Canadian Natural and Canadian Oil Sands. Suncor for example has more than 25 billion barrels of oil … Continue Reading

The Bakken formation stretches over 25,000 square miles beneath North Dakota, Montana, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. According to Continental Resources, the Bakken/Upper Three Forks formations hold an estimated 577 billion barrels of original oil in place. That means a 3.5% recovery factor translates into 20 billion barrels of recoverable light oil. Thanks to Bakken shale oil, North Dakota is on track to become the second highest producing oil state in the US after Texas.

The Peace River Arch area is located in Northern Alberta adjacent to the British Columbia border. It enjoys an impressive geologic diversity rewarding energy companies with prolific oil and natural gas production. It is one of the most desirable light oil and natural gas liquids drilling areas in North America due to long reserve lives and wells that can produce for up to 15 to 20 years.

The area is highly competitive and is dominated by key players including Birchcliff Energy Ltd., Crescent Point Energy Corp., Canadian Natural Resources Limited and Shell Canada among others. Production is established from various … Continue Reading

The Triassic Lower Amaranth formation (known as the Spearfish in North Dakota) is an unconventional light oil resource play with more than 2 billion barrels of original oil in place (OOIP). Just like the Viking in Saskatchewan or the Cardium in Alberta, the formation has been drilled through vertically numerous times since oil was first discovered in the 1950’s. The play is situated in the north eastern portion of the Williston basin where a fairway of oil charged formation sands runs from Southwestern Manitoba (Waskada and Pierson fields) into North-central North Dakota (Bouttineau county).

The kiwi oil and gas industry is ready for lift off and investors can be part of the action thanks to 2 Canadian oil companies offering a large exposure to massive amounts of oil and gas in high impact conventional basins and in highly prospective multiple shale packages. The beauty about New Zealand is its extensive energy infrastructure, its political stability, its attractive fiscal regime and a unique opportunity to develop world-class hydrocarbon resources in multiple underexplored onshore and offshore sedimentary basins.

New Zealand produces about ~55,000 barrels of oil per day exclusively from the Taranaki Basin with current demand … Continue Reading

There’s more to Australia than Kangaroos and Koalas such as 50 relatively under-explored sedimentary basins. Of those, only 12 are producing oil and gas while 4 have been confirmed to have non-commercial reserves. The remaining 34 basins have seen very little exploration if any as they have not been drilled to any significant extent.

Australia’s 30 on-shore drilling rigs are dwarfed by a fleet of more than 800 rigs in Canada. The bulk of petroleum spending in OZ is directed offshore leaving only 13% for onshore exploration. Australia is an LNG exporter but imports 55% of its domestic oil demand. … Continue Reading

Canada holds 175 billion barrels of oil in reserves, the third highest right after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The Canadian oil sands account for 170 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the oil sands deposits of Northern Alberta. The figure rises to 315 billion barrels of potentially recoverable oil from the oil sands as extraction technologies improve and economic conditions remain robust. According to the International Energy Agency, demand for crude is expected to rise through 2035 fuelled mainly by increasing demand from Asia. Oil will remain an important part of the world energy landscape for years to come which … Continue Reading

The Alberta Bakken light oil resource play was on fire in the first half of 2011 where investors bid stocks to new heights. But the market did not have realistic expectations as the play was exploratory in nature and could not be expected to yield initial production rates comparable to North Dakota’s Bakken play. As the first set of results appeared, demoralized investors exited these stocks in droves which fell from a premium valuation to fire sale lows.

The Alberta Bakken is far from dead as it is still in its early days. Land sales in Southern Alberta attracted over … Continue Reading

The Bakken Formation is a large unconventional resource found throughout central Williston Basin (Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Montana and North Dakota). The shales that comprise the upper and lower members of the Bakken are world class source rocks with a total thickness generally between 30-40m. The USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) 2008 estimate for technically recoverable reserves in the Bakken stands at 4.3 billion barrels, a figure expected to be reviewed higher. Some companies are estimating about 10 billion barrels in recoverable reserves!

Canadian energy trusts took a hit back in 2006 when the Canadian government decided to effectively end the tax benefits of the income trust structure for most trusts (REITs were spared). However, in 2011, a new version of this old investment vehicle emerged. These new energy income trusts are created to provide investors with oil & natural gas focused yield products and with favorable tax treatment relative to taxable Canadian corporations.

Eagle Energy Trust Structure

This tax efficient “mutual fund trust” structure is allowed as long as you do not hold Canadian assets; these are not SIFT trusts. Our featured … Continue Reading

Canadian heavy oil production is centered in the greater Lloyminster region covering both sides of the Alberta-Saskatchewan border where companies enjoy year round access. The oil is extracted from multiple-zone formations at shallow drill depth of 400-700 meters. To date, only 6.5% has been recovered from the 32 billion barrels of initial petroleum in place.

Oil produced from the greater Lloydminster fields falls in the heavy oil category as it has API gravity between 10° and 22°. It’s called heavy because it does not flow easily; it’s a gooey type of crude. The API gravity measures how heavy or light … Continue Reading